Editor’s note: The following story was printed in The Galveston County Daily News three days after Nick Adams’ arrest and explains the incident in detail.

By T.J. AULDS
The Galveston County Daily News

GALVESTON — Galveston police released few new details Feb. 12 about the arrest of a Daily News photography intern as he covered Mardi Gras festivities Feb. 10.

But it came to light that someone in possession of the photographer’s digital camera after the arrest deleted two photographs taken about the time of the arrest and that other photographs were taken with the camera after the arrest.

Nick Adams, 20, a Friendswood resident who is an intern with The Daily News, was in downtown Galveston working on an assignment as part of the newspaper’s online coverage of Mardi Gras festivities. At about 9:40 p.m. Adams attempted to get photos of officers arresting a man for public intoxication.

League City police officer Cliff Woitena, who was working alongside

Adams claims he never tried to move past the officer and never touched the officer.

Galveston Police Chief Kenneth Mack said he had not looked into the matter and his only knowledge of what took place came from a Daily News report published in the Feb. 12 edition.

“I have not been formally briefed; that would be out of the norm,” Mack said. “It’s not something that would normally come to my attention because it’s just an interference charge.”

Mack said the fact that photographs recording the incident had disappeared from the camera, and that 12 others had appeared on it after the camera was in police possession was “unusual.”

Those photos don’t reveal more than about a minute of activity within the mobile jail’s booking tent. Shots include a close-up of what appears to be the belly of a police officer, interior shots of the tent as well as an extremely out-of-focus shot of a woman holding a clipboard.

“If there were photos taken on the camera he did not take that would be unusual,” Mack said. “That would not be within policy to take photos with his camera.”

Mack did not comment on the missing photos. He said that unless there was a formal allegation of tampering with the equipment, he would not pursue the matter.

The two absent photos and additional snapshots were discovered after Adams had been released from jail. Embedded with a time code and numbered in order that the shots were taken, the missing photographs were those Adams took of the public intoxication arrest.

The photo sequence picks up again with an out-of-focus shot that shows a uniformed officer in front of the lens. That photo is followed by the dozen taken an hour later inside the booking tent.

Police reports obtained by The Daily News through an open records request revealed few new details of what led to Adams’ arrest. According to the arrest affidavit, Woitena told Adams twice to get back, but that the photographer ignored the command and broke by Woitena and other officers who had set up a perimeter around officers making the intoxication arrest.

Adams denied ever pushing by or coming into physical contact with any officer as he attempted to get photos of the arrest. He said it was Woitena who initiated the contact by shoving him.

Adams said he identified himself as a news photographer and asked the officer not to shove him.

The League City officer was among many out-of-town police officers hired as extra security for Mardi Gras. Woitena, who is League City ’s firearms training officer declined a Daily News request for an interview, instead referring all questions to the department’s public information officer.

As part of Mardi Gras security protocols, officers work in teams as they patrol the entertainment district downtown. When officers have to make an arrest, some members of that team serve as human shields between the street crowds and the officers and suspect. Mack said the tactic — commonly used in crowded areas — is the best way to protect the officers as well as the person being arrested.

On Feb. 10, Woitena was acting as one of the shield officers.